Parliament postpones proposal to dismiss election commission member

Lithuania’s Parliament Board of Elders has left a proposal to dismiss Central Electoral Commission member Laura Matjošaitytė off next week’s agenda, LRT reported.

The proposal was supported by nine representatives of the opposition and the Democratic Union For Lithuania. Eleven members of the ruling coalition abstained, as did Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the leader of the Nemunas Dawn party.

Conservative lawmaker Mindaugas Lingė, who introduced the proposal, said the issue could be added to the agenda at the board’s next meeting. He said this would allow Matjošaitytė to be informed and given a reasonable amount of time to prepare.

Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas agreed that a week was a reasonable period for notifying Matjošaitytė, but said he first needed to establish whether she would receive the letter sent to her.

Questions about the delay were raised during Thursday’s plenary session. Liberal lawmaker Eugenijus Gentvilas said the required number of signatures had been collected to invite Matjošaitytė to Parliament, but that the invitation had been postponed until the following week.

Gentvilas asked whether the delay was connected to an LRT Council meeting scheduled for September 22, which Matjošaitytė is also expected to attend.

Olekas said the invitation would be sent to Matjošaitytė on Thursday. He referred to a case currently being considered by the Constitutional Court concerning a person facing dismissal who had not been given enough time to prepare answers to questions.

“The invitation to Ms Laura Matjošaitytė will be sent today and, I believe, after being given seven working days, she will be invited to our plenary session,” Olekas said.

The required signatures were collected on Tuesday at the initiative of the opposition Homeland Union Lithuanian Christian Democrats. The document was signed by lawmakers from the conservative, liberal and Democratic Union For Lithuania parliamentary groups.

The Central Electoral Commission said on Monday that metadata showed Matjošaitytė had prepared Nemunas Dawn’s response to the commission on questions related to membership fees two years ago. The commission is due to decide on Thursday whether to launch an investigation into the consultations.

The commission, the Lithuanian Bar Council and the Chief Official Ethics Commission have received complaints concerning Matjošaitytė. The ethics commission decided last week to gather additional information before deciding whether to open an investigation.

The questions arose after news portal Delfi reported that Matjošaitytė may have advised Nemunas Dawn before the 2024 parliamentary election and helped the party prepare a response to the Central Electoral Commission.

Nemunas Dawn leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis said the party had consulted Matjošaitytė on various issues but had not paid her. Matjošaitytė said she had not received “a single euro” for the consultations.

The Central Electoral Commission said it had found no expenses for Matjošaitytė’s legal services in Nemunas Dawn’s submitted financial documents.